Hackers 'close' to major damage

The head of the Department of Homeland Security admitted Thursday that there have been some instances in which hackers have “come close” to shutting down parts of the nation’s critical infrastructure.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said these types of network intrusions on financial systems, transportation networks and other assets key to America’s day-to-day functioning are one of her top concerns in an age when cyberattacks are growing exponentially.

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“It could theoretically cause a loss of life, but also a huge economic loss,” Napolitano said at a Washington Post Live conference Thursday morning. “We’ve seen attempts on Wall Street, transportation systems, things of those sorts.”

Dealing with cyberattacks is an uncharted territory for the government and poses a whole new set of defense questions that still lack answers. Napolitano called for the creation of a national and international framework to address cyberattacks.

“One of the problems we have is that the current international regime, international law, international rules of conflict … really have not been developed with cyber,” Napolitano said.

The Senate has been working more than a year on a comprehensive piece of cybersecurity legislation that would in part clarify DHS’s authorities to protect critical infrastructure. But with the number of legislative days left this year ticking down, many are convinced the Senate won’t have enough time to bring the bill to the floor.

Still, “if there’s any area of international concern that the Congress is going to move on this session, it’s going to be cyber,” Napolitano said, because Congress has expressed “an urgency” to address the issue.

Even if the Senate bill does not come to fruition, the department will continue on as usual, Napolitano said. It has been using informal agreements to move forward on cybersecurity efforts and has been following the structure outlined in President Barack Obama’s Cybersecurity Policy Review released in 2009.

Napolitano said that jihadists, such as Al Qaeda, are more focused on attacking the U.S. through aviation and explosive devices rather than cyberattacks. But she added that there are others in the world that may not be jihadists but “have other motivations” and technical capabilities that are looking to attack the U.S.

The secretary declined to rank which threats in cyberspace she thought were the most dangerous.

“I don’t rank them. This isn’t like basketball or something,” Napolitano said, prompting laughs from the crowd. “Threats are threats.”

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 11:09 a.m. on October 27, 2011.